


Emerald Rescue Team

by the_bright_eyed_demigirl



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Gen, i don't really have much more to say about it than that, it's oras retold as a mystery dungeon game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-19 05:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7347781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_bright_eyed_demigirl/pseuds/the_bright_eyed_demigirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A retelling of Pokemon ORAS as a Mystery Dungeon game – with a dash of Emerald, of course. A human child named May wakes up to find that she’s become a Torchic. With the help of Brendan the Mudkip and Wally the Ralts, she’s going to find out why. Also, nature’s fallen out of balance, two rescue teams are having a planet-ending spat, and the strongest Pokemon in the region are off messing with rocks and Contests. So she’s probably going to have to deal with that, too…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Emerald Rescue Team

_Child… can you hear me?_

_Please. We need your help. Come find me, when you have found your strength…_

May woke up. Everything felt wrong. She was lying on grass, and staring up at the canopy of a forest. Light filtered down through the leaves, shifting as the wind rustled them to and fro.

She couldn’t feel her arms.

May sat up, bolt upright, to see that her legs had been replaced by talons. She was also bright orange, and she couldn’t just not feel her arms – they were _gone._ What the heck? She’d definitely had arms when she’d gone to sleep last night…

 _Had_ she?

Oh, no.

After a bit of trial and error, May got to her feet. Her balance felt off, though she supposed that was because her body felt off too. She looked around the small clearing she was in, and spied a pool of water. Perfect. She walked carefully over to it, and peered at her reflection. A confused-looking Torchic stared back.

Oh, _no._

She stared at her reflection a little more, wracking her brains as to how this could have happened. The more she thought, the more confused she became. Of only two things could she be absolutely certain – her name was May, and she was definitely meant to be a human. Everything beyond that was fuzzy and strange. She couldn’t remember what being a human was really like, save that it definitely involved having arms. No family, friends, home… though, she admitted, the word “Johto” rang a bit of a bell. Was “Johto” home?

How was she meant to get back to Johto if she didn’t even know what it was?

Well, there was no sense in sitting around, staring at her beak. If she wanted to get home, then the sensible thing to do was to find out where she actually was. And, more importantly, where Johto was in relation to that.

She looked around at the forest. A path presented itself. It stretched off through the trees, but it looked well-worn. Maybe it led to a town! That would be very helpful. At the very least, she might find a Trainer who was willing to help her.

(Wait, what was a Trainer? The word sounded helpful, anyway…)

May set off down the path. It was surprisingly well-lit, the afternoon sun shining happily down through the leaves above. The grass around the path was long and thick. Her instincts told her that long grass was dangerous. At any rate, she had no desire at all to leave the path, so she stayed out of the grass.

“Someone, help!”

May froze. Though the voice had been that of a Pokemon, she’d understood it perfectly. Someone was in trouble, further down the path. Maybe if she helped, they’d help her! She sped up to a run, claws leaving scratch marks in her wake.

Soon, she came to a more open area with plenty of grass. A Poochyena was growling at the tall grass. Or rather, it was growling at a large, dark shape within the tall grass. 

“Hey!” May shouted, surprised that she even knew how to speak with a beak. “What’s going on?”

The Poochyena snapped its head around to look at her. It pulled back its lips into a snarl, and May felt a little afraid.

“Back off, Torchic,” it said, voice rumbling, “this one’s mine!”

“Is someone there?” said a voice from the grass. “Please, help me!”

May took a step forwards. She glanced down at her talons. They were pretty sharp. The Poochyena bared more of its teeth, stepping towards May.

Then, the Poochyena pounced right at her. May dodged out the way of the tackle as best she could. On instinct, she brought her foot up and slashed at the Poochyena’s face. The wound cut deep, and the Poochyena yelped in pain.

“Ow!” It backed off. “Oh, forget this! You both got lucky!”

Before May could do anything else, the Poochyena turned and ran off into the distance. She considered chasing it, but there was no point – it was moving fast, and she didn’t want to risk it changing its mind.

“It’s gone now,” she said, walking up to the edge of the grass. “You can come out!”

The grass shook, and the dark shape within moved forwards, stepping out into the light. May had never really thought of Swampert as a large Pokemon before, but now that she was only a foot high, it seemed monstrously huge. Oddly enough, though, it was wearing a white labcoat, and had a bag slung onto its back.

“Thanks!” The Swampert beamed at her. “I was doing field work, when that Poochyena caught me by surprise. I know I’m big, but I’m not much good in a fight, unfortunately. Say, what’s your name?”

“My name’s May,” she said.

“I’m Professor Birch,” the Swampert replied. “Nice to meet you, May – hey, hang on. I didn’t think there were any Torchics living around here. I thought you all lived up at Mt Chimney.”

“Um, well…” May shifted uneasily. “I’m not actually a Torchic…”

“A Zorua, then?”

“No, I’m human.”

Birch’s eyes went wide. He looked May up and down in astonishment.

“Well! I’ve heard stories of humans waking up here as Pokemon before, but those are mostly legends. I never thought I’d ever actually meet one!”

Birch reached over and patted May on the head with one huge fin-hand.

“Don’t worry, May,” he said, “I’ll try and figure out what happened. My lab isn’t far from here – I can check you over there. Come on!”

Birch gestured towards the next stage of the path. He and May set off together towards his lab. Soon, they came to a large cleared area, filled with cosy little houses. There were a few people milling about the town – or rather, a few Pokemon. A Zigzagoon was talking with a Makuhita, a Roselia was watering some flowers, and a Slaking was sitting out in the sun in front of one of the houses.

Birch waved at some of the townsfolk as he went by. They all nodded to him in return. He led May through the town to a large, official-looking building. A sign at the front read “Birch Field Laboratory”. Birch held the large wooden door open for May.

Inside the lab were many more Pokemon, working on various papers and information. A huge desk at the back was piled up with paperwork. Birch led May over to it.

“Sorry about this,” he said. “I hate doing paperwork, but the Leaders are always insisting that I do it. At least Norman tends to be fairly lax about this sort of thing… Hop up on this chair and I’ll check you over.”

The chair in question was a wooden stool. May could see over the top, but only just. She eyed it up, then gripped onto the seat with her beak, and used her talons to scrabble her way up. It was actually a fairly comfy stool, even if it tasted awful.

Birch looked May over again, more carefully this time. He pressed a finger to her forehead, then took out a stethoscope and listened to her heart.  She squirmed under his scrutiny. Eventually, he declared:

“Well, you seem to be a perfectly normal Torchic.” Birch scratched his chin. “Not that I don’t believe you, though! This transformation has been pretty thorough. Do you remember what you did last as a human?”

May tried to remember, but again, all she got was fuzzy images.

“No,” she said. “I actually don’t remember anything except my name… and a place called Johto, but…”

“In that case, I have no idea how this happened.” He smiled apologetically. “But don’t worry! I’m sure there’s an explanation, and a way to get you home. I have a friend who knows a bit more about the unexplained than I do. If anyone can figure out what’s going on, it’ll be him. Wait here while I call him, okay?”

Birch reached into his bag and took out a large electronic device. He tapped on the screen a bit, paused, then tapped some more.

“This – thing – is – not – designed – for – fins – ah, there we go!” He put it to the side of his head. “Hey, Norman, it’s me! Listen, something really weird has happened. You know those old stories about humans who wake up as Pokemon…? Yeah? Yeah. You’ll want to see this one for yourself. Oh, you’re already home? That’s lucky! See you in a minute!”

Just a couple of minutes later, the lab door swung open. If Swampert had seemed huge, then the Slaking that lumbered through the door was even more impressive. Strangely, while May had been intimidated by Birch, she wasn’t at all intimidated by Slaking. He had a kind-looking face. She felt as if she could trust him. He was wearing a red jacket, which hung open over his immense chest.

“Hey, Norman!” Birch waved him over. “May, this is Norman. He’s an old friend of mine.”

Norman came over, and looked May up and down. She smiled the best she could with a beak.

“It’s nice to meet you, May,” Norman said. “Birch told me that you’re a human.”

May nodded.

“Well, then.” He smiled at her. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you while we work out what’s going on here – if that’s all right with you, of course.”

“It’s okay. Thanks, mister Norman!”

Birch chuckled.

“Ha, you’ll want to keep a close eye on her,” he said. “She fought off a Poochyena that was terrorising me, and she’s only been a Torchic for a bit!”

Norman rubbed his temples.

“A Poochyena…? Birch, you’re level _thirty-six_. Oh, why am I even surprised by this anymore?”

\--

Norman’s house was a quiet, quaint one. It was decorated sparsely, though a certificate marking Norman out as a “Leader” of some kind hung on one wall. The stone floor was covered with large rugs. A low table surrounded by tatami matting dominated one side of the floor, while the other side appeared to be a kitchen. Bookshelves stood up against one wall. A set of stairs in the corner led upwards to where May presumed the sleeping area was.

It turned out that the Slaking May had seen outside earlier was Norman’s wife, Caroline. The two of them absolutely dwarfed the little Torchic, but she still didn’t feel uncomfortable. Maybe it was because the two of them moved incredibly slowly and gently. Or perhaps it was just because they were doing everything in their power to make her feel welcome.

Well, she appreciated the food, anyway. Seeds and apple wouldn’t have been her first choice of meal, but it did taste pretty good. Norman and Caroline ate with her, though they had bread instead of seeds. Biological differences, she supposed.

Once the meal was over, Caroline cleared it all away and left May and Norman to talk things through at the table. Norman watched May carefully as he asked her all she could answer. She told him of how she’d woken up as a Torchic, with no recollection of anything save that she was meant to be human, and how she’d met Birch. He asked her various questions to attempt to jog her memory, but nothing new surfaced no matter how hard she thought.

Eventually, Norman leant back.

“Well, it seems that whatever’s happened to you isn’t going to be explained by mere questioning,” he said at last. “I’m impressed that you stood up to that Poochyena, though. Weren’t you scared, given what had happened to you?”

“Well, kind of,” May said, “but I don’t like it when people pick on others. It’s just mean. If I’d known how big the professor actually way, though…”

Norman laughed.

“I have no idea how that mon ever evolved,” he admitted. “At any rate, you’ve had a confusing day, and you should get some rest. Come with me.”

Norman hefted himself up. He led May up the stairs and into a small room. There was a comfortable-looking mat on the floor, with a desk next to it.

“This is our guest bedroom, so you can use it while you’re here, all right?”

“Thanks,” May said. It was a sparse room, but there was something quaint about it, like how the lower floor had been.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” Norman said. “Don’t hesitate to ask if there’s a problem, all right?”

That night, May lay on the mat and stared up at the ceiling. She felt terribly homesick, but couldn’t remember what for. It was an awful, awful feeling. Strangely, the worst part of it was the lack of arms. It felt so alien to not have anything to hold things with (save a beak). Her body felt entirely wrong.

She rolled over, closed her eyes, and dreamt of the sky.

\--

Norman and Caroline, it seemed, were big on healthy eating. Breakfast was berries and a bit of bread. May felt like she shouldn't be eating Berries. She got the feeling that humans really weren't meant to. That said, though, they actually tasted rather nice (save for one that was far too sweet).

“Well,” Norman said as breakfast was cleared away, “I’d best be off, then.”

“Where are you going?” May asked.

“Oh, I’m the Petalburg Leader, so I’m usually pretty busy.” He frowned at the confused look on May’s face. “I guess you don’t know what a Leader is, do you? Maybe I should show you. Would you like to come with me?”

May sprang up out of her seat.

“Okay!”

Norman laughed fondly.

“Come on, then. I’ll explain on the way.”

The sun shone down brightly as they set off back down the path from before. Norman explained that they were going through Odale Town to reach Petalburg City, where Norman worked.

“Hoenn is a pretty dangerous place sometimes,” he explained further. “You remember what happened with that Poochyena? It’s very easy for people to get themselves into bad situations. In order to prevent people from getting seriously hurt, we organise Rescue Teams, who go out and help people in trouble.”

“So, you lead a Rescue Team?”

“Not exactly. The Leader is someone who runs a District of Hoenn. My job is to keep an eye on all teams operating in the Petalburg District, as well as solving common disputes and giving advice. I also have to intervene in case of something that a Rescue Team can’t handle on its own – for instance, a large natural disaster. In that sense, you could say I lead every team in the area. You can only be a Leader if you’re strong.”

May had heard plenty about the capabilities of a Slaking that actually bothered to wake up. She could easily see Norman wading into danger, scaring off a horde of Poochyenas with his mere presence.

“That sounds like hard work.”

“Not really. Petalburg is the quietest District of them all. There’s nine, and this one is agreed to be the easiest to govern. Not a lot happens here. Places like Sootopolis, or Lavaridge, though… I don’t envy Juan or Flannery.”

“What types of Pokemon are they?”

“Juan is a Kingdra, Flannery’s a Torkoal. You ask a lot of questions.”

“Oh – sorry – ”

“No. That’s good.” Norman smiled. “No one ever solves anything without asking questions. So if you want to go home, keep asking.”

“Okay.”

They made their way through Odale Town, which was bigger and busier than Littleroot, but not by much. The various townsfolk nodded at Norman as he passed, and a couple even bowed out of respect. He dwarfed everyone around him by quite a way.

Soon enough, they made it to Petalburg City. It was far larger than Odale or Littleroot. Water Pokemon were gathered in and around large pools. Taillow sat on signs and benches, discussing local air currents. Zigzagoons and Linoones rushed around in patterns, running errands and chatting to their neighbours.

In the centre of town was a huge dojo-like building. A sign above the door marked it out as the “Petalburg District Centre”, and noted that Norman was its leader. Standing outside was a Gardevoir, with a tiny Ralts clinging to her skirts.

“Hello, Norman,” she said, gracefully stepping up to him (Ralts scurrying behind her). “Oh, who’s this?”

“This is May,” Norman said, “I’m taking care of her. Is something the matter?”

“Well, yes,” Gardevoir said. She gestured at the Ralts. “Can you send a message to Wattson for me, please? I need to send Wally to Verdanturf for his health, but with the tunnel blocked…”

“Of course.” Norman looked down at little Wally the Ralts. “Hm. Seems like quite a journey, though.”

“I’ll be okay!” Wally said. His voice was breathy and weak, but there was a distinct touch of confidence in it. “It’s not like I’m l-leaving Hoenn or anything.”

“True!” Norman smiled approvingly. “I’ll sort that out for you, don’t worry. Come on, May, I should show you around.”

Norman and May stepped into the centre. To May’s surprise, it actually was a dojo. Various Pokemon were training against each other or against dummies. A bulletin board covered most of one wall. It was largely bare, but there were notes and posters tacked neatly to it in places. As the two walked in, all activity in the dojo ground to a halt. Every Pokemon present bowed to Norman, who bowed back. Then, they went back to their training.

“They respect you a lot, don’t they?”

“It’s part of the job description,” Norman replied. “Come on, I’ll show you the back.”

A door by the bulletin board led to a small space, with a nice view of the surrounding area. Norman sat down on a large mat at the back, and picked up one of many letters that had been left there.

“What’s this…?” He opened and read it. “Oh, more trouble on the sea routes. I hope we don’t get a storm.”

May sat down on the mat next to him.

“What kind of trouble?”

Norman sighed deeply.

“Lately, things have been very busy. More disasters than usual have been occurring. Even Petalburg District is being threatened by it. Cave-ins blocked off the Rusturf Tunnel, the seas between Slateport and Pacifidlog are currently impossible to navigate, Fortree’s dealing with constant storms… Don’t worry, though. It’ll be fine so long as Mt Chimney doesn’t blow, and if it does we’ll have plenty of warning.”

That wasn’t very reassuring at all!

May spied a map on the nearby wall, and went over to look at it while Norman dealt with the post. Hoenn, it seemed, was a vast island of some sort, surrounded by many smaller islands. She quickly found Lavaridge – at the base of a mountain – and Sootopolis – in the middle of the sea. Each District was carefully marked – Petalburg, Rustboro, Dewford, Mauville, Lavaridge, Fortree, Mossdeep, Sootopolis and Ever Grande – along with the name of its Leader. Curiously, Ever Grande had no Leader marked.

Next to the map was a set of photographs of the Leaders. There was a Nosepass wearing a pink bow on her back; a Makuhita with goggles; a Magneton that had somehow managed to wear an Alolan-style shirt; a surprisingly energetic-looking Torkoal; Norman, with his red jacket; an Altaria in flight gear; a Lunatone and Solrock duo; and a regal-looking Kingdra. Below this display was a note, indicating that it was the contact number for “Team Elite – EMERGENCIES ONLY”.

Last of all was a pair of posters. They both read MISSING POKEMON – CONTACT LEADERS IF FOUND. One of the missing Pokemon was a Sharpedo wearing an anchor, while the other was a Camerupt wearing glasses. Evidently, they were Archie and Maxie of “Rescue Team Terra”, and had been missing since the increased disasters began several months ago.

It was all very unnerving.

“Well,” Norman said, startling May, “I suppose I’d better go and put this all on the notice board. Coming?”

The rest of the day was somewhat hectic. Norman spent it putting up notices, solving disputes, sending messages to the other Leaders, and dispensing advice to anyone who asked for it. He also had to rescue a Skitty who’d gotten stuck up a tree in between Odale and Petalburg. Apparently, she’d been playing hide and seek and forgotten that she was scared of heights. Norman calmed her down before sending her back to her frantic parents, and warned her not to climb any more trees.

(He then told May that he knew Skitty wouldn’t listen, because this was about the third time that she’d gotten stuck this month.)

May found this all interesting, but quickly got bored. She didn’t dare go too far from Norman, of course, but she kept wishing that there was something more for _her_ to do. She understood so little of this strange new world that there weren’t really any ways in which she could help Norman out.

As they walked home through the evening light, May raised this point.

“I understand,” Norman said. “And I think I have a solution. There’s a school in Rustboro City, not far from Petalburg. Birch’s son Brendan goes there. It’d give you something to do, and would let you learn about this world while you’re here.”

May thought it over. On the one hand, school. On the other hand, she was bored.

Wait, she didn’t have hands any more.

“Sure. Okay!”

**Author's Note:**

> For the record - May is Sassy, as that's the Nature that produces a female Torchic in the original PMD. Wally is Brave, and when he actually shows up Brendan will be Bashful.


End file.
